Recycled Wood Wedding Signs

This is a fairly simple project that is not only decorative, but functional as well. My wedding was held at my family’s ranch and it was important to designate areas where wedding events were taking place as well as informing our guests where to go, plus handpainted signs always look good in photos!

I used scrap pieces of wood that I found around our ranch, some of which were leftover cuttings from our deck or building projects, which made this project virtually a cost-free one. If you don’t have any scrap pieces of wood laying around, perhaps ask a family member or a friend, head over to your local landfill, or visit a virtual treasure trove of recycled items like Urban Ore in Berkeley. I honestly don’t see the point of going to somewhere like Lowes and having them cut you wood…. for a project like this it seems more prudent to me to recycle………

Here are the suggested materials for this project:

scrap pieces of wood

paint (I used white latex paint to cover the signs with)

acrylic paint (in your wedding colors)

paintbrushes

paint palette (or a paper plate – it works well!)

pencils

stencils (if you don’t want to write the words by hand)

First off, figure out what areas you will need a sign for. I made signs for our: ceremony, reception, parking, wedding (directional), restrooms, smoking area, beer, and one that had my husband and I’s name on it (perfect for photos!).

I gathered a piece of wood for each sign and then painted each side of the wood white. You could use whatever color you like for this, I prefer white as it’s a nice backdrop for easy-to-read signs.

After your paint has dried (which may take two days as you wait for each side to dry), either write your wording by hand with a pencil or use a stencil. You could also choose a decorative font on your computer, print it out, and then cut out the letters, making a stencil. Whatever your preferred method is, I’m sure it will look great. 🙂

Then choose what colors you’d like the lettering on your signs. I chose ones within my jewel-tone color palette for my wedding and used acrylic paint that I already had. You could use any type of paint for the lettering, and even add glitter to the letters — the sky’s the limit!

Some of my signs are screwed to stakes whereas others are nailed onto fence posts or hung on trees. My bridesmaids also added some ribbon to some of them. This project is so easy, I don’t know why anyone would go out and buy these….. just do it yourself and have fun creating!

Wedding directional sign - this one was as our guests came up the driveway (photo by Lone Pine Photography)